The present invention relates generally to receivers for brass musical instruments, and more specifically relates to receivers which facilitate alteration of the position of a selected mouthpiece relative to the leadpipe of the instrument. The adjustable receiver has been shown to offer particularly significant advantages when used on "low brass" relatively conical bore instruments, such as tubas and euphoniums.
As used herein, the term "brass instrument" is used to define that family of instruments conventionally identified by that term: instruments played with a generally cup-shaped mouthpiece, such as trumpets, trombones, euphoniums, tubas, etc.; regardless of the actual material of manufacture. It is well known in the art of brass instrument making that a critical portion of the instrument is that from the mouthpiece to the valve cluster. In most conventional instruments, this portion of the instrument consists of three elements: the leadpipe, which couples at its proximal end to the valve cluster; the mouthpiece receiver which is secured, typically by soldering, to the distal end of the leadpipe to facilitate acceptance of a mouthpiece; and the mouthpiece itself. The mouthpiece has a rim which contacts the player's face, a bowl area below the rim, and a shank which partially extends into the mouthpiece receiver.
Focusing upon the mouthpiece shank, the shank will contain a backbore, which begins at a throat, or aperture from the mouthpiece bowl, and which expands at a selected rate (or "taper") to the end of the shank. The shank will also have a selected external taper, and will decrease in diameter approaching the end of the shank (in contrast to the expanding taper of the backbore within the shank). As is well known in the art, for any given type of brass instrument (trumpet, trombone, euphonium, tuba, etc.), seemingly endless numbers of variations are made in these mouthpiece elements to accommodate individual players and to function satisfactorily as an interface between those players and a specific brass instrument.
Similarly, it is well known in the art of brass instrument making that the pattern of taper defined by the leadpipe, and the general conformation of the leadpipe, can make significant differences in how a brass instrument plays, in terms of tone, intonation, response, and size of sound. These characteristics are readily recognized, to the result that manufacturers of conventional brass instruments, and in particular of tubas, may offer multiple leadpipes which may be interchangeably affixed to an instrument to facilitate the player tailoring the characteristics of that instrument either to himself, or to a particularly desired performance characteristic.
Unlike mouthpieces and leadpipes, receivers have, prior to the present invention, been essentially a fixed aspect of the instrument. Although many different designs of receivers are known, they are typically defined relative to two primary aspects: (1) having a proximal bore sized to receive the end of the leadpipe; and (2) having a distal end having a taper configured to receive a selected taper of mouthpiece shank. This conventional design has offered significant limitations. First, if a player wished to utilize a mouthpiece having a shank with a taper different from that accommodated by the receiver on the instrument, then the player had to insert the mouthpiece to the extent necessary, and live with a mismatch between the tapers. In some cases, wherein the mouthpiece included a shank smaller than the receiver, the mouthpiece might extend into the receiver a greater distance than would have been intended or would have been desirable, and in some cases players might shim the mouthpiece with paper or a similar substance. Of course, where the mouthpiece shank is larger, the mouthpiece could only be placed in as far as possible. In some cases, specific mouthpieces may not be utilizable with a particular instrument having a conventional fixed receiver.
In individual cases, there has been speculation that a mismatch between a receiver and/or a mouthpiece shank might lead to less than optimal playing characteristics; yet there has not been an option other than use of another mouthpiece (in some cases a copy of the desired mouthpiece, but with a different shank configuration), or, in some cases, to utilize a mouthpiece assembly having an interchangeable shank.
Another deficiency of conventional receivers is that, even with an appropriately tapered mouthpiece shank, they establish a single, fixed relationship between the mouthpiece and the leadpipe. It has been speculated that altering the dimensions of this space may have an effect upon the intonation of the instrument. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,020, issued Jun. 10, 1981 to Happe. However, even with such speculation, U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,020 offers no suggestions about how such alteration might occur; and focuses upon making changes in a tunable leadpipe. The present inventor, has discovered that changes in the position of the mouthpiece shank relative to the leadpipe can yield dramatic differences in many aspects of the instrument's characteristics, including responsiveness and tone color.
In most receiver/mouthpiece combinations, a space is formed between the end of the mouthpiece and the instrument leadpipe. With conventional fixed receivers, the taper which begins at the throat of the mouthpiece, and expands through the backbore of the mouthpiece, through the space in the receiver, and through the leadpipe, may be less than optimal for either a given player, a given instrument, or for the playing characteristics desired from that instrument on a given day.
It should be noted that instruments are known which include movable sections within the leadpipe. In all known conventional instruments, these movable sections are utilized for tuning, and may include either a U-shaped tuning slide, as is found in some tubas and euphoniums; or a straight slide as is found on smaller instruments, such as the trumpet depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,020. These designs, although they change the physical length of the leadpipe and the valve cluster, still suffer from the drawbacks of a fixed relationship between the mouthpiece and the receiver, and a fixed distance between the mouthpiece and the beginning of the leadpipe of the instrument.
Accordingly, the present invention provides for an adjustable receiver for use on a brass instrument, which receiver will facilitate adjustment of the placement of the mouthpiece relative to the distal end of the leadpipe. In a preferred embodiment, the receiver facilitates the defining of an adjustable chamber between the end of the mouthpiece shank and the distal end of the leadpipe; and further facilitates the mounting of multiple configurations of mouthpiece shanks to a single instrument without mismatch of tapers of engaging surfaces.